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Caring Communities: How you can help in May

The Follow Me 5K (FM5K) for the American Legion Post 25 of Milltown will be held in the borough on Saturday, May 19. Used to raise funds for veteran and local school programs, the race also honors fallen heroes with a date chosen close to Memorial Day.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Bill Koch)

Central Jersey is full of ways we can help one another, and helping others is blooming this spring.

It truly is a caring community.

Here are five ways to lend a hand, donate, volunteer your time or show you care.

Follow Me 5K aims to remember and honor fallen heroes

The Follow Me 5K (FM5K) for the American Legion Post 25 of Milltown will be conducted in the borough on Saturday, May 19. Used to raise funds for veteran and local school programs, the race also honors fallen heroes with a date chosen close to Memorial Day. The directors and creators of the event are Bill Koch, father of Corporal Steven Koch, who died in Afghanistan, and Mina Nusbaum, past president of the American Legion 25 Auxiliary. The driving force of the event is to "Follow Me," a motto of Fort Benning, Georgia where Koch went through basic and paratrooper training before being assigned to the 82nd Airborne of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, then deployed to Afghanistan. Runners and walkers are mustered before the run for a short memorial ceremony officiated by American Legion Post 25. This year, key sponsors are the Saint Peters Healthcare System, Koch Family, IBEW Local 456, Milltown PBA Local 338, Chili's restaurants in East Brunswick and North Brunswick, Applebee's of Milltown, Our Lady Of Lourdes Knights of Columbus, Stop & Shop of East Brunswick and Maria's Pizza and Restaurant of Milltown.

"We are a family of loss," Bill Koch said. "The Koch family, from losing Steven in Afghanistan and his sister Lynne to PTSD of that loss of her youngest brother, know too well how easy those that have paid a price can be forgotten, even by family or friends. So in that knowledge, we must strive to carry on in that "Follow Me" dedication and drive so that no loss is in vain or goes unappreciated."

The Follow Me 5K (FM5K) for the American Legion Post 25 of Milltown will be held in the borough on Saturday, May 19. Used to raise funds for veteran and local school programs, the race also honors fallen heroes with a date chosen close to Memorial Day.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Bill Koch)

The Lebanon Reformed Church will host the 4th Annual "We Shall Over-Run" 5K run and 1 mile walk on Saturday, May 5. All proceeds from the event will benefit Hunterdon Hospice. The race begins at 9 a.m. and the walk will start at 9:15 a.m. Walk in registrations will be open starting at 8 a.m. The race will begin at Brunswick Avenue and Maple Street. Awards will be given to the top three male and female 5K finishers. Timing and race results are by Base Camp 31.

Hunterdon Hospice provides physical, spiritual, psychosocial and bereavement support to those with a life threatening illness and their families. Services focus on quality of life, not length of life. Hospice’s unique approach addresses the needs of the entire family unit in planning care.

Registration and race check-in will be at the Lebanon Reformed Church, 100 Brunswick Ave.. For details on how to donate, call the church at 908-236-6176. Participants can register online at http://weshalloverrun5k.itsyourrace.com. The registration fee is $30 after April 27 and $35 the day of the race. Visit www.hunterdonhealthcare.org.

Runners take off at the We Shall Over Run 5K and 1 mile walk being held in Lebanon Borough on Saturday, May 5(Photo: ~Courtesy of Hunterdon Healthcare)

Old Bridge Public Library sponsors blood drive

The Old Bridge Public Library is hosting a Community Blood Drive sponsored by New Jersey Blood Services at the Library’s main branch from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 3. Donors can walk in or can log onto http://tinyurl.com/oblibrarydrive to make an appointment. To donate, people must be between 17 and 76 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds; 16-year-olds can donate with a parental consent form and those over 76 can donate with a doctor’s note. People with diabetes and blood pressure controlled by medication can donate. Most medications will not disqualify people from being eligible donors; potential donors can call 1-800-688-0900 or visit www.nybloodcenter.org for more information about eligibility requirements. Donors are encouraged to eat before coming, bring I.D. and proof of age, as well as their donor card or donor number if they have one. The Library is at 1 Old Bridge Plaza at the corner of Route 516 and Cottrell Road in the Municipal Center. More information about this and other Library programs can be found at www.oldbridgelibrary.org or by calling 732-721-5600, ext. 5033. The satellite Laurence Harbor branch is at 277 Shoreland Circle and can be reached at 732-566-2227.

More Than Me plans fundraiser at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club

More Than Me (MTM), a nonprofit organization that operates a growing network of free public schools and a private tuition-free girls academy in Africa, is hosting "Moonshot" from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on May 22 at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club, 811 Rattlesnake Bridge Road in Bedminster. More than 50,000 children have been impacted by the nonprofit organization's reform education efforts. The goal is to reach 500 schools and 20 percent of Liberian children by 2021.

MTM began in 2009 as a scholarship program for the most vulnerable girls and young women in the West Point community of Monrovia, Liberia. Over the past five years, it has been committed to evolving to the needs of the students and their community, including the 2013 launch of the private, tuition free, K-4 Academy to serve 184 young women. When Ebola hit West Point in August 2014, everything changed. The organization fought to end the Ebola epidemic in West Point, and then in five other communities in Monrovia. For MLM's work, it was recognized as "Ebola Fighters" and "TIME Persons of the Year."

Strolling Thunder debuts May 21 at State House Annex

New Jersey has been selected as one of six states to take part in the Think Babies campaign, supported by national early childhood advocacy group ZERO TO THREE. Among the initial activities in the Think Babies campaign will be New Jersey’s “Strolling Thunder” event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 21 in front of the State House Annex at 125 W. State St. in Trenton. Families and early childhood advocates from across the state to Trenton will remind policymakers that success for children begins at birth.

This event is modeled after ZERO TO THREE’s national Strolling Thunder, which will be conducted earlier in May in Washington D.C. The Think Babies campaign is designed to bring national attention to the many issues that affect what babies and families need to thrive. Key campaign priorities include quality, affordable child care, time for parents to bond with their babies, healthy emotional development and strong physical health and nutrition. In each of the six states selected, a leading children’s advocacy organization has been chosen to direct the Think Babies campaign at the state and local levels. Advocates for Children of NJ (ACNJ) was chosen as New Jersey’s advocacy organization. The first 200 registered families will receive a $50 gift card if they bring a child under the age of 3. One gift card per family.